Tearful CEOs, quippy judges, and a no-nonsense, tough-as-nails prosecution lawyer...seriously the Gucci vs. Guess courtroom case couldn't be juicier if it had been scripted for television.

The latest development in the ongoing drama is testimony from Marc Fisher, the CEO of Guess' footwear licensee Marc Fisher Footwear, who has been consistently fingered as an integral part in the "massive knockoff scheme." According to WWD, Fisher actually started tearing up when his lawyer, Darren Saunders, recounted Gucci’s knockoff accusations. "I don’t understand the allegation," Fisher said, his voice "quavering," before he went on to explain how such a knockoff scheme would jeopardize his and his family's reputation.

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His father, just so you know, founded Nine West in 1978; Fisher launched his own namesake company in 2005, with Guess being their first big licensee.

"My family has been making shoes in this country probably longer than Guess exists," he said, adding that the number of shoes Gucci claims infringed on its intellectual property rights represent just three percent of all shoes Marc Fisher Footwear made in a four-year period. And besides, that three percent aren't knockoffs, they were just "inspired" by Gucci, okay?

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It's a sentimental story, but unfortunately the evidence does not stack up in Fisher's favor. Gucci's lawyer, Louis Ederer, showed the court a binder nearly a foot thick, and filled with photos of Gucci products, spanning the past five years. Fisher's defense? That the company does not just collect Gucci products to use as "inspiration," but that they have as many photos for several other brands, which they use as "references" for their designs. Um, okay...

Fisher also said the company references "vintage designs" quite frequently, adding that in certain cases, like when Jimmy Choo sent his company a cease-and-desist, the allegedly infringing shoes were actually inspired by looks Fisher had produced long before.

To which Ederer responded sarcastically: "So, Jimmy Choo knocked you off and then you knocked Jimmy Choo off?"

Things got even more interesting when Ederer presented a report showing Fisher's Gucci purchases over the last six to seven years. The tally? A whopping $75,000 in Gucci merchandise, which Fisher had no problem admitting to. The judge, however, was intrigued.

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This is juicier than a Law & Order episode.
Guess' CEO Paul Marciano took the stand yesterday to defend his brand against Gucci's knockoff allegations and my, did things get interesting. Marciano, who was questioned for a full four hours, insisted that Guess hadn't copied Gucci specifically, but had created designs inspired by a multitude of brands that were in fashion at the time, WWD is reporting. When asked about his brand's diamond-logoed “G” pattern, similar to a Gucci pattern, Marciano said, "This kind of pattern is common in the world of fashion and it’s not particular to Gucci.”
“What I understand here, which is very frequent [in fashion], is an inspiration to create an original bag of G’s with the same components," he added. "That’s what design is.”
Okay, fine. Except here's the thing--Guess' lawyer, Louis Ederer, somehow got his hands on emails between Guess buyers and employees at the company's footwear provider, Marc Fisher, and they do not help Guess' case.

Things are heating up on our favorite courtroom TV drama in the Gucci vs. Guess legal battle.
The latest in the juicy ongoing court proceedings is testimony from Paul Vando, a former director of men’s product at Marc Fisher Footwear, the company which provides Guess with its footwear--including several of the designs Gucci has named as knockoffs.
The last time we tuned in, Gucci's lawyer, Louis Ederer, had fingered Marc Fisher as an integral player in the "massive knockoff scheme," even presenting evidence that the company was sending Gucci fabric samples to Guess’ fabric supplier, with the intent to copy coloring and patterns. Ederer also read aloud emails between Marc Fisher and Guess, which specifically referenced Gucci products spanning from 1995 to 2008. Sounds like they've backed Marc Fisher into a corner, right?

After all the tears, heated words and passionate cross examinations, a verdict has finally been reached in the Gucci vs. Guess copyright case, reports WWD.
Gucci has won the three-year-long legal battle over a Guess logo and diamond pattern that the luxury brand says are direct copies of Gucci trademarks. But while Gucci may be the victor, the company isn't exactly raking in the dough like they expected.

The three-year-long Gucci v. Guess trademark infringement debacle finally came to an end this week in the US, with Gucci awarded the relatively low settlement of $4.7 million in damages (compared to the requested $221 million). But it's not over yet: WWD is reporting that Gucci is apparently planning to file new brand protection cases in Italy, China, and France. So this is going to drag out for a long time.
But the case has been raising a lot of questions.